russia will continue to be a factor in europe's evolution. if you look at russia, it's half the longitudes of the world but it's got less people than ban ga desh. it's been invaded by poles, electricity yanians, swedes. so russia still requires buffer zones in eastern europe and the caucuses. vladimir putin is not the totalitarian eastern giant the western union paints him as. his ne-yo imperialism is a function of his jeep geographical insecurity. poland, here in blue, may emerge as the real pivot state because, again, there's geography. poland has a lot of shale gas underground. poland may emerge as an energy giant in the 21st century which will give it leverage against germany and russia. >> let's move to the indian sub continent whoochlt i is afghanistan proving so difficult to deal with? why is the u.s. a decade into the war unable to go on patrol with afghans? >> one of the reasons is geographical. if you look at this relief map here, the border between afgh afghanistan and pakistan is very artificial. i've crossed the border many times